004. Startling resemblance

Myles' POV

I shouldn't have come myself.

I had four board members waiting on a call I'd muted twenty minutes ago, a driver idling in a loading zone that was going to cost me a fine I didn't care about, and somewhere behind me, my assistant was probably losing his mind watching the young master of Grosky Holdings wander a supermarket aisle like a common man.

But it was Eva's birthday, and my twenty-six-year-old half-sister had exactly one soft spot she'd never grown out of. An imported chocolate bar wrapped in gold foil, the one our father used to bring home from his trips when we were kids.

So here I was, CEO of a company worth more than this entire shopping district, hunting gold-wrapped chocolates.

I turned into the confectionery aisle, scanning the shelves.

"That's the same one my mommy buys."

I turned around. 

A little girl stood beside me, light brown hair slightly mussed as though she'd been running, a bag of sour gummy bears clutched to her chest like contraband.

I froze.

"She says it's for people with good taste. Do you have good taste?"

I blinked slowly, my mind going completely blank. Her eyes were deep blue, a carbon copy of mine.  Impossible!

For a moment, I couldn't utter a word.

It wasn't possible that this kid could carry my resemblance by accident.

I did the math. Was she four? Five?

"Mister?"

She tilted her head.

"I asked if you have good taste."

"I..." I cleared my throat, crouching so I wasn't towering over her. "I suppose I do. What's your name, little girl?"

"Catherine. What's yours?" She asked, staring at me with those familiar eyes. 

"Myles." I replied, studying her face.

"How old are you, Catherine?"

She held up four fingers, then added a thumb after a second of thought.

"Five. I was four last year. Mommy says I'm growing really fast."

Five? I felt uneasy for no reason. 

"Is your mommy here with you?" I asked, keeping my voice level even as my heart pounded.

"She's at the hotel. Aunty Vic was taking me to get gummy bears."

She shook the bag proudly.

"We're not supposed to go anywhere else, but I saw the chocolate and I really like chocolate too."

Hotel, not home.

Which meant she wasn't from here. She was visiting, or passing through.

"What's your mommy's name?"

Catherine's brows scrunched immediately.

"Why do you want to know?"

I hesitated. A grown man crouched in a supermarket aisle asking a child for her mother's name. Even I could hear how that sounded.

"No reason," I said quickly, straightening. "I just thought maybe I knew her. Small world and all that."

She studied me for a second, unconvinced.

"You're weird."

I almost laughed. I opened my mouth to say something else—anything to keep her there another minute, to get one more clue—when a voice cut across the aisle.

"Kitty? There you are."

Kitty? Apparently a nickname.

A dark skinned woman rounded the corner, tall and slim with glossy black hair tied up. She reached the little girl in three strides and crouched beside her, scanning her over like she was checking for damage.

"You said you'd stay right by the candy, not wander into a whole different aisle."

"I found chocolate." Kitty replied. 

The woman's eyes flicked up to me, assessing and faintly wary.

She probably found it strange that her charge was deep in conversation with a man she'd never seen before.

"Sorry," she said, standing and taking Kitty's hand. "She talks to everyone. Thank you for keeping an eye on her."

Before I could ask a single question, she was already leading the girl away.

Kitty glanced back once and waved.

I waved back. 

Then they disappeared around the corner.

I stood motionless in the aisle, the chocolate bar still in my hand.

One thought echoed through my head.

I had to find out who that child's mother is.

I pulled out my phone.

"David, I need you to look up someone for me."

     ★ ★ ★                   

Later in my office.

I hadn't stopped thinking about the kid in the supermarket. The resemblance was startling. 

I forced the thought down. There was time to unravel that later. Right now, I had a corporation to run.

I buzzed my secretary. "Send in the Head of Investments."

He stepped in a moment later, hard cover files in hand.

"If we push the acquisition timeline up by a month, we can beat R&D Group to the regional contracts." I slid the tablet across the table to him.

"That's aggressive, CEO Myles." He pushed his glasses up his nose bridge.

"They'll call it hostile."

"Let them talk. I already spoke to two of their largest shareholders this morning. Personally."

He looked up, surprised. "You reached out yourself?"

“But..“ He hesitated. "Their CEO won't fold easy. He's stubborn."

"So was the last person who tried to outmaneuver me." I didn't elaborate. I didn't need to; he'd been here three years. He knew which name I meant, and where that man ended up.

He swallowed. "I'll draft the offer tonight."

He left without another word. 

My phone rang. David. I straightened immediately. He must've found something.

"Sir, her name's Victoria Smith, twenty-eight years old," he said. "Grew up and did modeling work in New Jersey. Moved to New York city a few days ago."

Papers shuffled on his end.

"She booked one local commercial since arriving. Otherwise, she works as an assistant at a firm called Bronzo Capital."

"And the girl's parents?"

"Nothing about them."

I frowned.

"No name on any record I can access. No birth filing, nothing that points to either parent."

My grip tightened around the phone.

A girl who looked that much like me and somehow left no obvious trail behind her?

That was far from normal.

"You'll have to dig deeper, David."

My finger lingered near the end-call button.

Then another question surfaced.

"What about Thea?" I asked quietly.

"Anything this month?"

Silence. Then David sighed.

"Nothing new, sir. She's still untraceable. Whoever made her disappear did it well."

I closed my eyes and pressed two fingers against my nose bridge.

Five years of asking the same question and five years of hearing the same forsaken answer.

"Keep looking."

David hesitated, "But it's been years, sir. She could've built her life elsewhere."

I clenched my jaw. He was right. Maybe she'd moved on. Maybe she'd forgotten me completely.

Or maybe that witch had done something to her.

"It doesn't matter," I said.

"Just do as I say."

I ended the call. 

Then I reached for my private laptop— a sleek silver model— entered the password and clicked open a locked file. Then I began typing, completely tuned out from the rest of the world.

Suddenly, the door opened.

Damn. I slammed the laptop shut and shoved it into my drawer, rising sharply from my chair as David entered.

"Why the heck didn't you knock?"

David blinked. "Sir, I knocked thrice. There was no response—"

"You knocked thrice?"

And I hadn't heard a single one. I must've been engrossed. 

David set a glossy black bag on my desk, the name Nobu embossed in gold lettering on the side.

"I had them send over the usual, sir. You haven't had anything since your morning coffee and it's 4pm."

“You didn't have to do that." I paused, looking at him. "You look like hell, David. Go home early tonight."

He blinked, caught off guard. "I'm fine, sir."

"I didn't ask," I said. "Go home."

He smiled, then bowed quietly,"...Thank you, sir."

After he left, I ate in silence. Then I rose, locked the door, pulled my blinds shut, and took out the silver laptop again.